Brandon student represented South Dakota, but those from Colorado, Florida and Michigan took home prizes.
A Brandon middle schooler represented South Dakota at this year's National Civics Bee in Washington, but a Colorado student took home the first place prize.
Peter Daniell won $100,000 in a 529 education fund and the Bill Daniels National Civics Award.
The bee, which is sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, featured 52 students from across the country. Each state, plus American Samoa and Washington, sent a student to compete in the national bee.
The competition on Wednesday, which was supposed to run from 8-10 p.m. ET, went on for an extra hour due to technical difficulties. The final round restarted three times after the students had issues with their buzzers. The broadcast stopped for over 40 minutes at one point.
Chloe Dabney from Brandon Middle School competed in the two-day competition as the South Dakota representative. The first day of competition on Tuesday determined the top 25 students who then went on to compete in the televised portion on Wednesday. Chloe did not advance to the second day of competition.
Araoluwakiitan Afolabi, from Florida, came in second place. He received a $25,000 cash prize. Michigan student Carolyn Taylor took home third place and a $15,000 cash prize.
The Civics Bee launched in 2023 and will continue in 2027. The applications for 2027 are open now until Feb. 2. Learn more about how to enter here.
To watch highlights from the 2026 National Civics Bee Championship, visit https://www.youtube.com/@CSPAN.
Emily DeCock
South Dakota News Watch is an independent nonprofit. Read, subscribe for free and donate at sdnewswatch.org. Contact reporter Emily DeCock: 605-736-4396/ emily.decock@sdnewswatch.org.
